Iran Says It Foiled One of the ‘Biggest Terrorism Plots Ever’

TEHRAN — Iran’s Intelligence Ministry issued a statement on Monday saying it had foiled one of the country’s “biggest terrorism plots ever.”

Several people were arrested, and bombs and other explosives were seized from “Wahhabi takfiri groups,” the statement said, employing a term commonly used in Iran for supporters of the Islamic State militant group. They had been planning bomb attacks on June 16, the anniversary of the death of the first wife of the Prophet Muhammad, Khadija, the statement said.

“Several bombings were intended in different locations in the heartland of the country,” the statement said, asking people to pray for the intelligence agents who had discovered the plot. No further details were given.

The Iranian authorities frequently say they have discovered plots and arrested terrorists, but they rarely provide evidence. The Islamic State has organized bombings and assassinations almost everywhere in the region, as well as in Europe, though the group has not successfully staged attacks in Iran.

The last big terrorist attack in Iran was in 1994, in the eastern city of Mashhad, when at least 25 people died during a bombing of the Imam Reza shrine, a major pilgrimage site for Shiite Muslims. At the time, the government held an armed opposition group, the Mujahedeen Khalq, responsible, although there were reports that the attack had been organized by Sunni militants.